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WASHINGTON — More than 300 college presidents have signed a letter urging Congress to enact new
gun controls in the aftermath of December’s elementary-school massacre in Connecticut.

“For many years now, our nation’s leaders have engaged in fevered debates on higher education,
yet lawmakers shy away from taking action on one issue that prevents thousands of young people from
living lives of promise, let alone realizing their college dreams,” the presidents wrote in the
letter, which was organized by leaders of Oglethorpe University and Agnes Scott College in Georgia.
“That issue is gun safety.”

Among the goals in the letter: a ban on semiautomatic assault weapons and high-capacity
ammunition magazines; consumer-safety standards for guns, such as safety locks; and a requirement
for background checks for those who buy firearms from unlicensed sellers at gun shows.

Central Ohio college presidents who signed the letter included Kathy A. Krendl of Otterbein
University, Dennison W. Griffith of the Columbus College of Art & Design and Rock Jones of Ohio
Wesleyan University.

Kenneth Ruscio, president of Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Va., who signed the
letter, allowed that it is risky for a college president to take a stand on such a polarizing
political question.

“But I was moved, as many of the other signers were moved” by the Dec. 14 slayings at Sandy Hook
Elementary, Ruscio said. “It’s probably time to make a statement — and time to declare ourselves as
concerned. ... It’s not a random issue. It’s one that goes right to the heart of things we think
about on our campuses.”